The Tanking Will Continue Until Morale Improves: the 2022 Baltimore Orioles

wondering why we didn't trade santander of all people but i guess the market wasn't going to be kind to a corner OF with a sub-.800 OPS

He's hitting better than Mancini, he's younger, and has more team control. I thought it was more likely they'd trade Santander and not Mancini because Mancini has a longer history with the Orioles and two months of Mancini was not gonna bring back much (well I was right about that at any rate.)

so it does not bother you that, 1.5 games out of a playoff spot, the o's sold?

i am familiar with this scenario in that circa 10 years ago the pirates, who didn't quite feel ready to compete, at least gestured at the possibility by acquiring, say, derek bell or justin morneau for little to nothing

i guess my question is at what point will the o's -- as we've been wondering about oakland for years, but they have at least on occasion stepped up -- commit to winning now rather than in some nebulous future? what will that take?

(also very familiar with claiming a wild card and being immediately bounced by red-asses fwiw)

so it does not bother you that, 1.5 games out of a playoff spot, the o's sold?

Oh it totally bothers me! I think what we got back is pretty worthless relative to the diminishment in enjoyment of the 2022 team, wild card or not.

i'm not really bothered by it at all. i don't think this run is really sustainable, especially the starting pitching. i think there are a some young pitchers who are gonna wear out. and i'll die before i recognize the third wild card so if we just barely sneak into it with a middling record i will pretend the season is over.

we're also still technically rebuilding, in that there are at least 4 position player prospects in the high minors and a couple more who may be there soon who are all projected to be major league regulars and they need to be promoted and given time to work out their kinks. not even talking about stowers and vavra there. i'm sure some prospects will be traded but you shouldn't really do that before any of them have been promoted aside from the big one, right?

and at the same time we have two players (urias and mateo) who have sort of broken out recently and need to be given time to really see if they're future full timers. and neither of the two major pitching prospects have come up and worked through their obligatory 6.00 ERA rookie seasons.

everything about this roster just feels too transitory to start filling in with permanent pieces from other teams.

I'm not bothered by them not going out and acquiring players for prospects! I just would have been very happy to see them stand pat. A team is a weird alchemy and they've lucked into something that works. I would have been happy to see this group play their way to 75-87, not get a WC, whatever -- I've just been having a good time and want to keep it going!

adley rutschman has stolen his second base of the season

it was part of a double steal, but still

according to fangraphs he has added 2.9 runs via his baserunning, which is second on the orioles, just ahead of cedric mullins

should point out that i don't even think that's fluky, he looks genuinely fast out there (for now) and makes good baserunning decisions, after all the prospect reports gave him the standard "he's got catcher speed, what do you expect"

when matt wieters came up he ran like albert pujols runs now

just a very good athlete. haven't seen data on pop times, but he looks very agile behind the plate.

2 singles and 2 walks today. no doubles :(

doing this for every game of his career btw

Five in a row now, admittedly at the expense of the Pirates and Reds. Loving this.

this is going to be a fun series.

manny machado debuted 10 years ago today

2-for-4 with a triple in an 8-2 loss to the royals

I think Gunnar will be up this year but not long enough to kill his rookie status and prevent him from netting a draft pick next year

So when is that?

I've read the 23rd

I'll put my money on the 29th or 30th in case we're still in the hunt for the easy wild card

still waiting to see what they do w/ that extra 40 man roster spot. have to imagine it goes to stowers or henderson, but...who knows?

stowers is just twiddling his thumbs hitting grand slams in Norfolk, he's 24, what does he have to learn at this point?

it's nuts w/o even getting into what guys like cowser and norby at bowie.

Officially half owners of the mickey mouse wild card

DL Hall reportedly joining the big team!

DL Hall is expected to start tomorrow night for the Orioles, a source tells The Baltimore Sun https://t.co/NX7bjVGGKG

— Andy Kostka (@afkostka) August 12, 2022

yay!

...but please promote stowers and gunnar henderson, next!

third place

stowers incoming. adios, brett phillips.

But.... the third reboot of The Richie Martin Show instead of Henderson????

Wild game going on--Orioles up 15-10 in the 6th. (I've had it on in the next room--no Jays broadcast tonight--nothing but frantic yelling from the broadcasters.)

Even more surprising than the Orioles going on a 10-game winning streak is the Orioles following that up by just.... consistently playing like a normal and marginally contending baseball team, week after week?

i was just thinking that. there was some panic on twitter, but they've seemed to still chug along and win more games than they lose. bor-ing, right?

I really do feel like you notice the absence of Mancini and Lopez when you watch the games though.

had pretty good seats for the cubs game last week and i have to say, i don't think i had appreciated how easy cedric mullins makes center field look and how inadequate tv is conveying the jorge mateo experience.

re: mancini, lopez

bullpen definitely has not regained the spring in its step. sorta thought they were gonna push hall as a multi inning for the rest of the year...would a made sense.

he is being "converted to a reliever" in AAA to be called up again apparently. probably could've just done that process in the majors but this way he conveniently stays a rookie

kyle stowers contributing, ilx gets results, you're welcome baltimore

ho hum...another series win in the bag.

today hurt - o's lose, rays jays and M's all win - but at least this is finally happening

Gunnar Henderson and DL Hall are flying to Cleveland tomorrow to join the taxi squad, per source #orioles

— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) August 31, 2022

Happy Gunnar Day everybody! (Batting 6th and playing 3B against the Guardians today.)

Well that went well!

https://www.mlb.com/orioles/video/triston-mckenzie-in-play-run-s-to-gunnar-henderson?t=moonblasts

it was glorious.

ho hum...

Can't say that having Baltimore at your heels is not comforting. They've got to be playing so loose right now; the Jays, meanwhile, have all these expectations.

Double negative...it's not comfortable, is what I meant.

I was surprised to read that the orioles and jays still play each other 10 more times this season. Could be interesting!

Nine Jays-Rays games, too.

toss in the yankees and it's really looking like a dogfight down the stretch.

the way the jays rays and mariners are playing i'm thinking the yankees falling out completely is the only way we make it in

I know Gunnar's not THIS good but I sure am enjoying this (and the hair)

situation w/ the jays will resolve itself head to head, i think.

1982 redux. sort of.

'89 for these two teams--Jays won the division by 2.0 over the Orioles, with the final three games in Baltimore. The Orioles had to sweep to win, two Baltimore wins would have left them in a tie. (I don't know if they went by head-to-head records then or a tiebreaker.)